Watcher from the Tree
by Kurogane7
Summary: After Yuffie makes a promise to her mother after she had died, Chaos had been asked to watch over her. He thought he'd be doing her mother a favor by honoring her wishes, he never figured out that love would happen, at least not again. Rated T for now...
1. Freedom

_**A/N: This story just popped into my head upon having inspiration from "Tenchi Muyo", where Ryoko tells how well she basically knows Tenchi from when he was a little kid without his knowing…although seeing five-year-old Yuffie is not a new idea, I decided to try my take on it. Please read and review, would you kindly? Reviews will tell me if this is a story worth continuing.**_

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He first saw her when she was four. She was but a sticklike little girl with short bobbed hair bouncing up to him hand-in-hand with her expecting mother. Although his corporeal body was stuck in a tree, he was still very much a sentient being, as he can still walk the ethereal plane and be aware of every little thing—such as the fact that she is due tomorrow and that a funeral shall be happening rather soon. The little girl sat in front of the shrine with her mother, praying to a statue of Da Chao that was built under his body—apparently to ensure that he would not escape under the eyes of the great god himself. "Who is that mommy?" she asked, looking up and pointing at his body, "That, Yuffie, is the statue of a demon," she said, sitting Yuffie up on her lap, "it was said that long ago, he was a fearsome ninja who showed the ghosts to the underworld so that they could go to heaven or hell.

"Eventually, he fell in love with a human priestess, but despite her love, she could not return it because he was a demon, and mainly because she was married. It was a while after he confessed his love to her and she turned him down that he killed the priestess's husband…why the demon did such a thing, nobody knows as it was said by the few who spoke with him to be a very gentle soul despite his reputation; although some say it was because his jealousy had gotten the better of him, that he could not stand seeing the priestess with her husband. Whatever the case, the demon took off with the priestess in his arms, and escaped into a forest before he was struck down by an almighty wizard after a grueling battle. The wizard was not strong enough to kill the demon, but he was still strong enough to seal him away, and so he froze the demon and cast a spell on him to seal him into a tree, where that statue is now—his arm is shot out and reaching…for what, nobody knows, perhaps it was his last bid for the love of his beloved priestess.

"It is said that after the battle, the tree grew large and thick as if the demon's presence within was making it that way and keeping it alive and safe from any who would try to cut it down—that's why after more than six-hundred years, this tree still stands, and it has that appearance of a man reaching out for something…the demon must still be trying to reach out for her even today."

Yuffie looked at the statue, and saw the form reaching out. In one moment, she looked in wonder…who was this demon who kidnapped a priestess? And what really went on in his mind when he did what he did? Was love all he sought? She could not help but feel sorry for him…to go so far for one he loved dearly, only to be taken before he could have her heart to himself. She could not help but feel sorry for the fate of the demon…he loved someone and could not have her.

"Do you think he'll ever get what he's reaching out for mommy?" she asked, "I don't know," said her mother, "I suppose the only way we can ever know the answer to that is if we ask him ourselves. However, letting him out may not be such a good idea…who knows what he's like when we let him go?" The demon simply sat on the stump unseen and unfelt nearby, listening in on the tale, and watching with sad eyes as Yuffie left…oh how he wish he were free from that tree—but alas, this spell is unbreakable…there is no way he can ever be free. And with the said priestess dead, he was unsure of what he would do now.

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It would not be until the next month that he sees Yuffie returning to his tree with tears in her eyes, crying before the shrine dedicated to Da Chao. She doubled over, and started her fit of sadness. "Why mommy?" she asked, sobbing before the statue, "Why'd you have to go away? Why'd you have to die? It's not fair! Now daddy has been acting weird after your funeral, and I don't know what to do with Kairi…I just don't know what to do…"

Although he was sitting in a branch of the tree and watching her with sincere pity in his eyes for this little girl, the demon was actually not surprised that Kisaragi Mariko would die of birth complications, after she had given life to her daughter Kairi. He actually knew that she would die at age 39 way ahead of time—but being an envoy of the dead, he is not allowed to interfere with mortal life unless said mortal life was directly involved with him. He did not know any other way of comforting poor, sobbing girl, and so he brought his hand up, and gently touched her on the shoulder—she then turned her head to look around for something…she could not have felt that now could she?

"Mommy?"

The demon simply stood there—watching Yuffie. After a moment of silence, she sobbed her last sob and wiped her eyes off with her forearm, and in those few seconds he watched her, the sadness in her eyes was replaced by something. Although the demon could not describe the fire in her eyes literally, he could say one thing…there was determination in her eyes instead of sadness. At the turn of a heel, Yuffie faced the shrine of Da Chao, and got in her knees in prayer.

"Mommy, if you can hear me, then I'm going to make you a promise. I promise to stop crying…I promise to be strong and take care of Kairi…in fact; I will make myself so strong, that by the time I die, I will have made you proud of me! And if the demon is listening—don't you dare touch my mother, and if you do, I will beat you up when I die!"

Upon the finishing of her oath, a lightning bolt crashed in the background before Yuffie got up and turned to leave.

"Do you think she'll be able to keep her promise to you?" he asked, knowing who was standing behind him. "Don't worry about it," said Mariko, knowing what he had seen, "my little Yuffie is strong enough now, and I am proud of her. And don't think that I never saw you following me everywhere. I know you've been saving my life several times whenever I was unconscious, and I want to know why."

The demon looked to Yuffie's mother seeing the slight frown on her face, and sighed. "On the one hand, I suppose it was on a whim that I decided to help you—I'm not sure of the reason myself, but something about you made it worth to save you. On the other, I think it's because I took a bit of a liking to you—you reminded me of Lucrecia before she died…I'm only sorry that I am not allowed to help you this time…the gods don't seem to know that I've been helping you, which is a good thing. Are you ready for your trip to the afterlife?"

Mariko smiled at the demon. "Yuffie has already seen to that. But before I go, I was told to deliver something to you."

"A message?"

"Yes. I'm told it was from the gods. They said it had something to do with your current situation. And I know this must be a burden on you, but I have a request to ask of you before I meet with one of your colleagues."

The demon looked into her coffee-colored eyes as he received the envelope in her hands…she was very serious about this request. "Name it."

"I already feel bad for leaving Yuffie as it is…would you please keep an eye on her while I am gone?"

The demon simply started opening his letter. "Don't worry. For some reason, your family has garnered my interest starting with your mother's mother the day she first set foot into my end of the woods. She made me promise to watch over your mother, who subsequently made me promise to watch over you, just as you are doing for your daughter now. Just promise me that you'll have a safe trip to heaven like the two of them…they've been waiting for you even today, and are looking forward to seeing you."

"That's a promise I can keep." With that said, Mariko left the demon behind to open up the envelope…it was indeed a letter written in the glyphs of the gods…

"Dear Chaos,

Your crime of unnecessary direct involvement with a mortal has brought bad karma to you in your life. And because of your violation of this law, you should be sent to Hell in order to serve an eternity in prison. However, due to your long-standing employment and true loyalty with us, you shall only be demoted to the level of a human being. You shall be freed of your shackles the day a lightning bolt splits your tree in half, thus destroying your corporeal body…afterwards, it is simple—you shall take the body of one who has recently died…a nobody if you will, and you shall live the rest of your life in that body. You are not to reveal your identity unless you reveal it in the darkness—if your name reaches us from the light, then we shall wipe you from the face of the planet, and not even a binding spell can save you.

Sincerely,

Leviathan

P.S. We're giving you a second chance to redeem yourself…don't fuck it up!"

Chaos simply found himself with a glint of hope in his eyes…now he has a chance to be free!


	2. New Kid in School

_**A/N: Now we see how Vincent fits in…do please read and review, as it will tell me if I should be continuing this story...

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Four years later, Byakuren City…

Vincent Valentine's birthday had literally ended in a very big bang for one his age…Chaos had known that from the very beginning that he would die in a traffic collision that would also kill his father Grimoire and his mother Michiko at the manipulations of their greedy corporate rival, Viktor Travinski Shin-Ra. Things on the ethereal plane do not go unheard, as there is more gossip there than there would be on the corporeal plane…and that gossip flies much faster than a Dragoon 636 airship abusing steroids and coffee spiked with large amounts of sugar and caffeine. There is rarely anything in the ethereal plane that is not heard of, unless you're talking about really important god business as most of that is clandestine. He had spent the last four or so years searching for a body by listening in the shadows while keeping a close eye on Yuffie as he had promised, and just his luck—he finds a kid that recently turned nine that fits his spiritual energy level in the rain the moment his tomb was split in half by an accidental Lightning 3 spell cast by Yuffie; As Chaos stood by the dead body of the young adolescent, he remembered how worried he was that his source had fed him false information when he learned that there was someone in the world who fit his power level exactly.

The reason it has to be an exact match when it comes to taking a dead person's body is because when there is even .5% of free spiritual energy in the said body, then even the weakest spirit can oust a stronger demon out of the host (they may have a good deal of trouble though), or the host may have a better chance of fighting back and stopping the possession. On the other hand, when the possessing spirit's energy level is too high (only a 5% margin is allowed for error) either the host will transform slowly into the spirit in his or her entirety, or he or she will explode leaving the spirit with no body to inhabit.

While Chaos walked on towards the sidewalk, he found the soul of the boy frozen in place at the sight before him…he knows his parents are dead. "My condolences for your loss kid," he said, sitting next to him, Vincent never moved an inch, "but it was scheduled by fate to happen today."

Vincent looked to the speaker sitting next to him, anger in his cinnamon-colored eyes. "If you knew that this would happen, then why didn't you do anything about it? Why aren't my parents here with me?"

Chaos simply looked back at the boy, the crimson of his eyes piercing him in the core. "For your first question, I am stuck in this plane of existence as much as you are, only permanently, and so I couldn't have done anything about it, and even if I did have a physical body in the first place, I'm not allowed to intervene in mortal affairs unless those mortal affairs concern me…it's a law I have to follow. And for your second question, your parents are not here with you because they have died on the spot—you however, are still alive…although barely."

Vincent narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean, 'barely'?"

Chaos looked away from the boy with a lackadaisical look on his face. "I mean it as I said. You're not dead yet, but you're still rather close…which is why I'm here to talk to you."

Vincent didn't bother hiding the surprise written on his face. "Me? A shinigami wants to talk to me?"

Chaos stood up, and beckoned Vincent to follow as he started walking. The boy had nowhere else to go, and so he followed the demon side by side. "Ex-shinigami, and yes, I want to talk to you…Vincent Hasegawa Valentine, son of Grimoire Robert Valentine and Mariko Shimizu-Valentine, and next heir of Valentine Labs. I have a proposition for you."

"A proposition? And what were you saying about me being an heir?"

"Yes. You were schooled by your father and your mother personally through your younger years before you went into a private elementary school…Grimoire wanted someone to sit upon his throne in the future that he could trust, someone that he could entrust his empire to in the future involving his mako research labs, and so he groomed you up to succeed him, and to make the kingdom he started survive and grow. Anyway, back to my proposition. I can bring you back to life and you can be able to take your revenge on Shin-Ra."

"What's the catch?"

"Oh dear, it looks like leadership really does suit you. Well, how do I put it…I'm basically going to eat you in a way—you'll be a permanent part of me, and I'll be a permanent part of you, and we share everything once this is done…the reason I need to do this is because if I don't eat your soul, your body will reject me, and then the fusion can't take place. Legally, I need your consent for this...so you can refuse, and go to the Lifestream with your parents if you like"

"I know everything that benefits for me, but what do you have to gain out of this? Surely you don't want to be stuck in the body of a nine-year-old."

"Freedom—just freedom and the ability to keep a promise." Chaos had stopped for a moment—they had made it to their destination: the Lotus Sutra Hospital. He then looked to Vincent with a look of desperation on his face. "You'd best hurry with your decision boy, because your life is going to expire in two minutes now."

After twenty seconds of thinking, the look of determination in Vincent's eyes was apparent—it was just like the look that Yuffie had. "Do it, I don't have much longer anyway, and so I'd much rather spend the rest of my life as a part of someone else than to just die like that. All I can say to you is bon appétit…but under one condition."

"Name it."

"When you get revenge on Shin-Ra, make sure he is on his knees begging for his life before you deal the coup de grace on him."

"You do realize that your parents will miss you?"

"I'll see them again eventually…they'll just have to wait a bit. I just want to live my life before it is actually my time, and to live life for them. Just get on with it and enjoy your meal."

With that, Chaos touched Vincent's soul with his left hand, and converted him into a flaming ball of energy. "I'll make sure you don't regret this." He then moved his hand to his mouth, and swallowed the ball in one gulp. The next thing that happened, Chaos found himself looking upwards towards the ceiling as doctors kept dripping procaine and epinephrine into the boy's system while operating on his damaged organs and bones, Chaos was almost 30% done with his possession. He needs more time to gain full control of the boy, and it would not do if Viktor had hired a hitter…unfortunately, Viktor Shin-Ra is a rather thorough man, and so he makes it a point to ensure that all the loose ends are tied up before he settles down on his vintage 1900 Mideelean vodka. There is no such thing as 'half-assed' in his vocabulary because being 'half-assed' means you're dead in his books…that hitter would be coming on in when the operation is done, and by that time, he should be done possessing the boy's body…however, once he's done possessing the boy, he gets everything, including his current condition and memories…and at this point, he'll also die if that contract killer decides to strike.

Once the operation was done, everything started settling down…as he continued to sleep, the memories started infusing themselves to the new soul in the body and so Chaos the shinigami was no more, as he had become Vincent Hasegawa Valentine the moment all of his memories and personality had fused with his soul 100%, thus completing his transformation. Using his newly-sharpened ears, Vincent picked up the sound of footsteps approaching and a firearm loading…the hitman is here…he remained still, not moving an inch, allowing the killer ample time to point the gun at his head…it was an H&K USP Match, chambered for 9 mm rounds. Before he could land the killing blow, a scream was heard, causing the man to turn around and shoot—he had shot a nurse, and he had just drawn attention to himself. Now he can't kill the kid! The mission was botched, and so he'll have to make a getaway…Shin-Ra is not going to like that a little kid has escaped his sights by circumstance.

With that thought on mind, the hitman ran away…firing more bullets is only going to draw more attention to him. Vincent opened his eyes…he really didn't want it to be this way, but he needed a diversion, and so as soon as he heard the killer walk in from outside the room, he rang for a nurse with a silent alarm…a shame that it had to be Nurse Ifalna that answered, for she was currently bleeding away…he'll just have to do what he can for young Aeris in order to compensate should she die. He then heard footfalls in the doorway—people had rushed in to take the nurse away to be treated…all Vincent could do now was pray silently that Nurse Ifalna survives this night…

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Vincent sat in the wheelchair away from the window of his own home. The doctors had no idea what was up with him, but he was found with sharpened senses—including sight. How this came to be, they didn't know. However, due to the disturbance caused by his red eyes, Vincent Valentine was released from the hospital a few weeks ago and taken back to the mansion to recover…the servants had been there to take him to and fro school and basically to take care of him until he was fully mobile to do most things himself. As he sat there in place, he noticed a presence in his room—his sharpened senses allowed him to pick up anything, even in the ethereal plane.

"I never knew you would answer that call nurse," he said, "but I knew all along he was trying to kill me. I pressed that button because I really needed help—I needed someone to see him and alert people, and it got you killed. If there's anything you want me to do to compensate for what I did, please name it, and I'll have it done as soon as I recover from my injuries."

"Why are you doing this?" asked Nurse Ifalna, looking at the cause of her death from behind, "You never really did wrong by my book…you were in danger, and you needed help. I just didn't know what to expect that night. You don't have to do anything for me."

"But I insist. I feel guilty for letting you die like that. I won't take no for an answer…what would you like for me to do?"

"Huh, an ex-shinigami such as yourself that would not take no for an answer when he feels that he's at fault? I wonder how you get by with such a good soul like that. Fine then, since you asked, I want you to do a few things: first, my best friend Elmyra will be coming on in to look for a job so that she can take better care of my daughter Aeris—I want you to hire her and give her lodgings in your house so that you can keep an eye on both, and second of all, I want you to take extra special care of the boy while you avenge him and keep your promises."

"Consider it done." With that, Ifalna bowed her head low, and left through the front door, as her shinigami was meeting her there. Chaos now has more promises to fulfill—one from Mariko, one from Vincent, and two more from Ifalna…in any case, this could take a while…four major promises in the same life? Who would have thought it? As Vincent watched Ifalna follow her shinigami to the underworld, he sat there, and planned out his priorities…making Shin-Ra pay for what he did to his family would be the number-one thing he would do…the only stipulation was how he would do it…

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Eight years later, Nan Tian High School…

Yuffie was excited for her first day back in school, as was Kairi. Their excitement was not shown as much on their colleagues…for one, Tifa was clinging onto Cloud very tightly, Zack was lying back as usual, Marlene hung around with Denzel despite her father's threats against him, and Shelke kept her blank poker face on. Well, at least they could have shown a bit more enthusiasm…

"Yuffs!" called out a very familiar voice, and it belonged to none other than one supercharged ball of energy charging towards the two named Rikku. "Did you just hear what's up?"

Yuffie may still be as supercharged a ball of energy as Rikku, but even she could not fake the look of confusion on her face. "No, we just got back from vacation about a week ago, what's up?"

"We've got two new students transferring in."

Kairi's eyes widened with surprise. "Really?"

Rikku nodded to confirm that she was telling the truth. "They're coming on down from Byakuren City; and he's moved in half a week ago."

Yuffie looked at her best friend with some degree of interest in her eyes. "I wonder what they're like…" Before she could get on with her thoughts, the bell had rung for the first class to begin. Yuffie and Kairi both looked at each other and made a break for it to their classes after giving each other a quick hug. Ever since their dad had been thrown into jail for a child abuse charge, they had been staying at their grandma's for the past eight years. This was just what the doctor ordered for their troubled minds…and a vacation was but a supplement to the medicine that they would receive. Their first class was Algebra I with Professor Tuesti. Once the class settled down, the teacher stood up and walked to the board.

"Good morning class," he said, with a smile, as everyone returned the friendly gesture, "I trust your summer vacations were good? As many of you have heard, we have just received transfer students from across the country, and one of them happens to be here today. Would you please come on up and introduce yourself?" No sooner than he had finished his sentence than when someone at the back of the class had shifted himself backwards from his table, and started walking up to the board. His silky black mane made it down to the bottoms of his scapula, and he was walking with his hands in his navy blue boy's uniform pockets. Once he made it to the front of the class, he took both hands out of his pockets and faced the audience—revealing a half-Wutainese kid with a catlike frame whose face put the prettiest of women to shame, and wearing a red headband that matched the color of his eyes.

"My name is Vincent Valentine," he said, with a slight smile on his face, and his smooth northerner's accent permeating the class, "I came from Byakuren to attend here in Nan Tian in order to basically broaden my horizons, and pretty much meet new people. I play music sometimes as a hobby and as per goals; I just want to make life as comfortable as possible afterwards. That is all."

"Thank-you Vincent, now please take a seat."

With that, the new kid started walking back towards the rear end of the class. The amount of whisperings from the girls in class brought several words to the ears of one Yuffie Kisaragi…such words like "I wonder what he's like at home…" and "I heard that his deviation value is 69…that's even higher than mine…" and the boys, whispered something along the lines of "what is he, a vampire?" and "he looks like a girl…maybe he's gay…"

Upon hearing those sentences, Yuffie was lost in thought…'A northerner? What's he doing down here in the south? Why is he walking towards me? Why is he looking directly at me? Why in the name of Holy Leviathan am I picturing him in a schoolgirl's uniform making the hottest French kiss on my lips while that interaction looks like a lesbian love scene from those porno magazines that I stole from Cloud and blackmailed him with? Bad Yuffie! Bad! Get your mind out of the gutter! He's a northerner, probably even a Goth rich kid, he shouldn't really be here—in fact, he doesn't belong anywhere near the southern end of Wutai! He should be in bed with…no, No, NO! Bad brain! Bad! Making me think naught but dirty thoughts! I should be bashing him just for being rich and spoiled! Ugh! If this keeps up, then Grandma Kisaragi is going to transfer me to some nunnery! And besides, I'm dating Reno…who has yet to call since I told him I just got back. Why did he have to look so hot and yummy and…gah! I swear, it's all his fault…heh, yeah, he's making me think all these dirty thoughts like that evil, sexy devil that he is and…'

"Excuse me?"

She was deep in her rare train of thought when Yuffie heard that voice. The new kid Vincent was standing over her…oh god, he was looking into her soul with those mesmerizing ruby eyes of his. "Are you alright?" he asked, the concern present in his voice, "You've been out of it for the past half a minute now."

Yuffie had become as red as a tomato at that point. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine."

Vincent's voice had not changed. "I was asking if it would be okay if I took a seat next to you."

"Sure thing."

"Thanks."

What was she doing? She should have been refusing him! Too late now…he's sitting right there with her…and now she's got a mob of his jealous would-be lovers with murderous intent in their eyes, glaring at her with hatred through that walls that were the boys in the classroom—who actually gave them a better view of their target by moving away from the new kid. This was going to be a tough school year…

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_**A/N: I intended Grimoire to sound like he had France in his blood, due to his first name, and so his middle name is pronounced like "Robe-air" and Vincent's back story, I had to draw from Seto Kaiba, only I decided to make him start off as an only child.**_

_**Translations/Vocabulary**_

_**Shinigami—literally means 'death god' or 'death spirit', but sometimes, it is translated as 'grim reaper', 'the reaper', and 'soul reaper' (only for BLEACH). These are really envoys of the dead, leading them to Hell so that they can be judged to go to Heaven, or to serve a sentence by staying in Hell.**_

_**Byakuren—literally read in kanji as 'white lotus'.**_

_**Nan Tian—Mandarin Chinese for 'south sky'.**_

_**Deviation value—the Japanese equivalent of the grade point average…a student above 65 is doing pretty well.**_

_**Songs Played:**_

"_**Neji vs. Hinata" by Toshiro Masuda—Ifalna and Vincent speaking to each other.**_


	3. Ashes to Ashes

_**A/N: Oh my, now we know where Vince lives…I wonder how that goes, what with two more people showing up from the FF universe…**_

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October 13, 1330: Some time during the Wutainese Civil War…

It was a cold, dark night during the Wutainese Civil War that would unite all the tribes into one nation…Chaos sat upon the treetops overlooking the ground below him with a shot of sakè in his hand, and the gourd nearby within reach. Because he was a demon in human shape, it was easy for him to get such items as a gourd of sake with some shot. This particular brand he purchased had some julienned ginger slices soaked inside to give it a bit of a kick—nothing made his work as a shinigami more enjoyable than when he enjoyed the pleasures that the rich took for granted; this fine sakè is one of these pleasures. He had a koshirae-style wakizashi at the ready to prepare for tonight's mission…this wakizashi was held in an inlaid black lacquer sheath with rose quartz sakura petal motifs set within it. His sando-gasa made him look like an ordinary man in combination with his white haori.

Just as he finished his last sip of sakè, Chaos heard the sound of hooves beating on the ground and three-toed claws dashing by as he put on his oni mask. He took his wakizashi into his sash to his left side, and reached into a pouch placed on the back of his hakama—he took out three kunai, and threw them into the ground below, causing a caravan to stop at that very spot, and the horses and chocobo stopped right where they were. During the commotion, he slid himself off the tree, and stood before the leader of the caravan. "Pardon my intrusion, but you have something in your possession that's dangerous," he said, as soon as the hullaballoo was cleared up, "if you leave it here, I swear that none of you will be killed…get in my way, and I'll treat you bandits like the weeds you are. Now what is it going to be, the easy way or the hard way?"

His answer came in the form of arrows being fired at him from the bushes which he dodged effortlessly. Great…snipers…a clear-cut sign that they refused to drop it. Now he has to kill them all. "You know what? I was going to be nice and let you all go. But since you've done the most stupid thing by making my professional life even harder, it's only fair that I am to take your lives in exchange."

With that, Chaos placed his right hand in front of him as if in prayer, and as he did that, a small portal in front of him opened, and something started rising from the rift…as it kept rising, it became clearer and clearer as it was becoming a handle, and then it became a hand guard, and finally, it became a black lacquer sheath with red cloud inlays and motifs on it. The second the sword's cap reached the end of the portal, it was flung into the air. Before it could hit the ground, Chaos caught the sword by the leather wrapping that was the grip for the sheath with his left hand. He then moved the sword in a sideways position, and slowly unsheathed the six-foot long katana while chanting a Da Chao sutra and dropping the sheath to the floor, before charging the bandits, and reappearing behind them shortly afterwards…the second everything was done, everyone fell down to the ground dead and cut in half—even the snipers were not saved from the devastating attack.

Chaos looked upon the corpses, and found that none of the bandits had survived. Good—it served them right. Each man within this band of brigands had committed a terrible crime; nobody would miss them. Especially not their leader—well, being a headhunter on the outside gave him a source of income so that he could purchase more delights to eat and drink…probably go out to find the red light district in the next town. Well, first things first: he walked on among the corpses, and inspected the bodies to ensure that he did the job right. Next thing he did was to walk on over to a particular wagon in the caravan…it was covered by a large cloth that obstructed any views of the object in question. Once he pulled the cover off, he could not help but be disgusted…this was indeed what he was looking for; it was an experiment to merge humans with dragons the scientific way—dragons were a rare sight, but that did not make them any less dangerous even to a shinigami such as Chaos himself. Once dragons and humans are mixed together using a combination of science and magic instead of creating half-breeds the natural way, only bad karma can result.

He simply sighed and brought his wits about himself. This poor creature was suffering at the hands of some mad scientist—it was a naked woman contained in a tank with a dragon for a head, and talons in place of hands and feet…this was not how creatures of the mortal and spiritual realms were supposed to mix together. As he looked on, the dragon-woman twitched and opened her eyes—she saw him, and with a look of recognition in those amber-colored orbs, she weakly brought her right hand up, clenched it into a fist such that her thumb was sticking up, and brought it across her neck…she was clearly suffering.

"I'll pray for you get a decent spot in the afterlife." With that, Chaos lifted his large sword, and brought it down to slice the glass of the tank in half, and thus killing the mutant. As she lay dying, the dragon-woman had a look of gratitude in her eyes even while she was in pain. To finish the euthanasia, Chaos brought the tip of his sword down through her skull and pierced her brain. "I'll also pray that you reincarnate into a better life there than what you had here…namu amdah butsu" He simply sheathed his katana, summoned a portal in front of him, and dropped it into the rift.

The first phase of his job was done…Chaos whistled into the air, summoning a red catlike being from out of nowhere with a flame at the tip of its tail. "Nanaki, leave no trace of anything behind old friend," he said to the fire-cat, "because by order of the gods, this never happened." "Understood," said the fire-cat looking at the scene in disgust.

Nanaki knew that whenever his partner Chaos has been summoned to perform a black ops mission for the gods, he is to burn away the evidence so that nobody knows that the gods were involved. He only wished it were so simple as to kill the ones responsible, and leave it as a message that the gods do not like what one is doing, then he'd be sitting next to his friend with a shot of wine on a more nightly basis. How he wished it were that simple, and as he watched Chaos walk away into the darkness, he knew that his job of destroying incriminating evidence was far from over...Chaos had more people on his hit list to take care of, and that would mean more burning for Nanaki...

* * *

September, 2010; a week after the start of school…

Vincent walked on down the street with Aeris at his side enjoying what was left of their Friday afternoon. She was so innocent…and she was also talking about her first day in a new high school. She was talking to him about a boy she just met in school…a Zack Fair was it? In any case, he simply walked with her down the street. _"So what are we doing here in the south anyway?"_ she finally asked, speaking in the northern accent, _"You didn't make any more promises now did you?"_

"_Well, I have one more promise to fulfill here,"_ said Vincent, _"and of course, I still owe your mom for saving my life. You being my friend was a side effect of my promising to hire Elmyra. But now I have a couple more promises to fulfill."_

Aeris immediately knew what he meant. _"Then that means he's here?"_

Vincent kept looking forward. _"Yeah, he's here. Partially, I wanted to get a better view around in the land and to meet new people, but also to plan my next course of action. You don't seem like you're very enthusiastic about this."_

The look on her face was filled with concern. _"Vincent, I like you and all, and I really hate what he did to you, and what he made you do. But are you sure that you're following the right course of action?"_

"_If I don't plan this correctly, if I even falter, then he's only going to hurt even more people just so that he can stuff his pockets. As far as these people know, I'm just a northern city boy…I want to reinforce that image so that he will drop his guard. But if I do make friends like you did, then I'll do my best to protect them, this I swear."_

"_I know. You're a man of your promise…just promise me not to die for the sake of vengeance."_

"_That I'll do."_

Yuffie just walked on down the street with Kairi, as they had just stopped by the general store to get a snack. "…and then Sora said that he and Riku are still competing. How lame is that? I mean, it's like this every season…they're always very competitive despite being very good friends," said Kairi as she was taking a bite out of her granola bar, "although I do get excited when they take the next competition to the kendo club…they tend to be evenly-matched as when they spar, they both hit each other on the head with a shinai at the same time when nobody else can even come close."

Yuffie was simply sipping down on her bottle of Starbucks iced cream coffee. "Well what do you expect when you've got two guys hankering down on you? Boys are always competitive! Not like my Reno…he's always so easygoing and sweet…although he does seem to be a bit dodgy as of late…he hasn't returned my call since I got back." Kairi knew that this was not a good time to tell her sister that she had caught Reno talking up several girls, and even making out with one of them in the restroom; although, she had been acting strange since first period. While she was lost in her thoughts as to consider whether or not to tell Yuffie about her discovery, she made contact with someone, knocking the other person back while the impact did the same with her.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Kairi, "here, let me help you up." "Thanks, I appreciate it," said the other person—Kairi found out that the voice belonged to a girl with auburn hair and the clearest sea foam green eyes you could see, "sorry about your granola bar though." Kairi looked around, and found her granola bar on the floor, but when she got back up, she saw someone coming from behind, and standing the girl up. "Are you okay Aeris?"

Yuffie looked on at the interaction. "A girlfriend of yours Valentine?" The slight sound of annoyance must have been clear in her voice as the mentioned young man turned and faced her…oh how she desired to pick on him…"I'm afraid not Yuffie," he said, "this is one Aeris Gainsborough…my best friend since I was nine."

Aeris smiled, and bowed from her hips before Yuffie. "Pleased to meet you!" Were the northerners always this polite? "So, are you headed home?" asked Kairi,

Vincent looked to the younger of the sisters. "Yes, we actually live down the street…the address is 343 Behemoth drive."

The look in both sisters' eyes was one of surprise. "You live next door to us?"

Vincent's small smirk only irked Yuffie as he spoke honestly. "To be honest with you, I must apologize—we were rather busy digesting our furniture into the house so that there'd be more space here. It's something to expect when moving from one place to another…but other than that, I'm not sure we were properly introduced. I'm…

"Vincent Valentine, you're that new kid in school who took a seat next to me. I was actually paying attention. Just out of curiosity, why did you move on down from the north when you could have made a future for yourself up there?" Kairi looked at her sister with disgust for the rudeness in her mouth.

The calm air that Vincent had on him never left, as he looked on at Yuffie. "I decided to try normalcy out for a change. I mean, it's good that I get to enjoy all the better things in life, but I want to experience the simpler things…after all, you can't appreciate the finer things in life unless you've tasted the luxuries of simplicity. Aside from that, I'd prefer to keep that part to myself."

Yuffie could not help but be mesmerized by those rubies inlaid into pearls…she could not help but space out in her thoughts. 'Oh damn…he's looking right at me with those damn sexy red eyes of his…wait a minute, was he looking at me? Maybe he was looking into me…yeah, hypnotizing me into giving him a hickie over his jugular, and then…oh great, here I go again with the dirty thoughts; I mean this is just gross, I'm picturing myself sleeping with a spoiled rich kid—he has nothing on Reno aside from being rich. He was probably a nasty boy who deserved a spanking from the very beginning, and since he's a naughty boy, he deserves a good sound spanking…oh how he'll scream in an erotic way as I…wait a second, I've got it! Think about Reno…his sapphire eyes…that blazing red top of his…the way he draws me in with his charisma…the way that he is a badass…the way that he is just my height…and compare to the rich kid now…he's too tall for me…too damn girly…too damn mysterious…and too damn sexy for me…he's just plain corny and old-fashioned in his behavior…just not good enough by my standards…yeah…he's nothing compared to Reno! You hear me? You'll never take me from Reno!'

"Are you alright?" he asked, "You seem out of it…like last week."

'Eek…' Yuffie had no idea that she was thinking those thoughts in front of him. "What makes you say that?"

"Because whenever you're around me, you tend to have this distracted look in your eyes…like when you dazed off in Dr. Ross's class just last Wednesday—she had to call your name twelve times before she resorted to throwing a chalkboard eraser at you in order to break you out of your trance."

Dr. Aki Ross taught biology and philosophy…Yuffie and Vincent shared classes in the earlier. She was not very patient with students who did not pay attention to her in class…and although she refuses to admit it, she has the hots for one Gray Edwards, one of the instructors for the co-ed physical education class and coach of the Deep Eyes basketball team. "Don't worry about it, I tend to daze out when I'm thinking. What were you saying?"

"I was asking if we could escort the two of you home."

"What?"

"I figured, since we are going the same place, we may as well walk you ladies home. Interested?"

"Sure."

'Argh! There I go again!' thought Yuffie to herself, 'He has got to be doing something to me…and I have got to stop thinking like this! I'm telling you, Vincent is my one true love! Wait a minute, 'Vincent is my one true love'? For shame Yuffie! Although it probably wouldn't hurt if you just let the guy do the gentlemanly thing…yeah, a random act of gentlemanly kindness never hurt anyone, and it'll not lead anywhere! Let's just accept his invitation and go walk on home with him! I won't admit it to his face, but what Reno has in charisma, Vincent has in pure charm—he can get any lady he wants with that ability; just not me…nope, not me…anyone but me…anyone sexier than me…hey, that's another thought to help rid me of him from my mind! Think that there's sexier girls out there than me that deserve him!' As Yuffie kept on thinking about it, the more she realized that she was insulting herself…perhaps that was the reason that Reno wouldn't talk to her anymore…ah well, a confrontation is in order.

Vincent looked on at the house that belonged to 60-year-old Kisaragi Mizuki's house…she was Godo's mother who raised Yuffie and Kairi like her own daughters; given that Godo was an only child. "Well, this is where we get off," said Vincent, stopping at the two-storied home next door to the traditional Southern Wutainese single-storied building that belonged to Mizuki, "see you next week?"

Kairi smiled at Vincent. "You can count on it. We live next door, so we're likely to do so."

Yuffie looked on at her sister, and he could tell that there was traces of disgust in her eyes…for him it would make sense if she found him disgusting. He was a monster after all. "Well, we'll see then neh?" he asked Yuffie, who turned her head to face him. "Yeah, sure," she said, "maybe next time?" With that, Yuffie and Kairi walked away, and got into their house. As soon as Vincent turned around, he was met with Aeris' eyes looking up at him with a searching look in those emerald pools.

Of all the times he could be confused, Vincent had to do so now. "What?"

Aeris smirked mischievously. _"You like her don't you?"_

Vincent simply put that blank look on his face, and shrugged before saying in his own native tongue, _"I don't know what you're talking about."_

Aeris continued to tease as she walked with Vincent towards the house. _"Oh come off it, Vincent, I've known you for the past eight or so years. I know that look…I may not have seen it before, but I can tell what's behind it."_

Vincent opened the door, looking briefly at Aeris. _"Yuffie's mom is one of the people I've made promises to when I was Chaos. To suggest that I've a liking to her is preposterous. I don't really like her so much as I am interested in how her life goes…don't ask me, because I don't know why either—for some reason, a spark of interest in her family had flickered in my mind ever since her great-grandmother stumbled across my tomb. I really don't know what's up—I've been watching her great-grandmother, her grandmother, and her mother all grow up into fine women ever since that day."_

Aeris had a look of sincere joy on her face as she walked up the stairs to her adopted mother's room, _"Either way you look at it, you are going to have something blossoming with her one day. It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but it's going to happen. You may not admit it, but you like her more than you say…and it'll be a matter of time before you admit it out loud."_

Vincent groaned to himself. No matter what he does to try and deny it, he knew that Aeris was right. The only reason he would not come out with it was because she was already seeing an asshole that was cheating on her with eight other girls…an asshole that did not deserve her. He'll make his move, when the time is right. But first, he'll have to relax…Sunday's coming up after all…and as he looked at the chest in front of him, he knew it had to be done no matter how bad the memories were. He touched the chest with his right hand…when Sunday comes, he'll do it; after all—it's the anniversary of that day…

* * *

Sunday…in the Hotoke-mori forest outside of the Nan Tian district…

Vincent trudged through the forest with the chest in hand while Aeris brought the flowers and Elmyra a picnic basket following their boss and benefactor. Within the chest were several things…Vincent refused to talk about it outwardly, and she knew why—if Shin-ra found out that he was still alive, then he'd be doing nobody any good if he were dead. "We're here," he said, finally coming to a stop, and what was seen were the remains of a tree split in half. The shrine of Da Chao was smashed beyond recognition—perhaps it was time to replace it. Elmyra, Ifalna, and Aeris were all firm believers of the western religion, but Vincent was raised as a Wutainese boy so he worships the bodhisattva Da Chao, but they all know the customs regarding the dead.

Upon finding their destination, Vincent opened up the chest, and pulled out the shrine he had purchased the day he arrived in Nan Tian, a clay statue of Da Chao sitting in meditation belonging to his mother that doubled as an incense stand, three plastic sakè cups, three pairs of red chopsticks, a large dish, and three small photographs—one of Grimoire Robert Valentine, one of Michiko Shimizu-Valentine, and one of Ifalna Crescent. Vincent set up everything proper: the statue of Da Chao would sit in the middle, while the three photographs sat in front of the statue before the dish with a bun on it, the chopsticks, and the filled sakè cups. The next thing that he did was to snap his fingers to cast a fire spell to light a stick of incense before placing it in the hole in the back of the Da Chao statue, and knelt down in reverie and prayer for the souls that were taken to the afterlife.

The part of him that was Vincent cried, but the part of him that was Chaos was simply respectful of the dead. All he could do was watch in prayer…

* * *

_**A/N: I decided to base Chaos' design here on one of my favorite summons of all; Yojimbo…now that was a badass samurai. Although he costs too much, he's still a rather cool summon.**_

_**Translations/Vocabulary**_

_**Koshirae—this is the standard mount for a katana and no two mounts of this type are the same; it has the hand guard, the handle, and the butt caps, as well as the rope for tying it up to your sash.**_

_**Sando-gasa—a bamboo shade had with a wide brim, looks kind of like a pail only wider.**_

_**Haori—the Japanese version of the overcoat.**_

_**Hakama—samurai pants…more like chaps than pants actually.**_

_**Wakizashi—the samurai short sword…sometimes used for seppuku.**_

_**Kunai—ninja knives; they are actually designed to be used like trowels and wrecking bars, but some can actually be thrown.**_

_**Namu amidah butsu—a standard Buddhist chant for the dead, basically to say, "may Buddha aid you in your reincarnation to a new life".**_

_**Hotoke-mori—literally "Buddha Forest".**_


	4. Cheater

_**A/N: Sorry for the long update...too many ideas and school got in the way...anyway, please read and review, would you kindly?

* * *

**_

August 12, 1341: after the Wutainese Civil War…

Chaos had gotten himself drunk and laughing after a particularly grueling mission. In both his arms were a pair of prostitutes he had hired to keep him company with a one-nighter. The civil war was over, and that left a lot of ronin wandering around looking for work—those who could not find work or even cope with this era of peace turned to banditry…some have traded in their swords for prayer beads as they became monks. Whatever the case, dueling became a very commonplace occurrence nowadays between former samurai trying to spar, or defending their honor.

Before he could get into the inn to have his threesome, Chaos had ducked his two guests down upon hearing the swooshing sound of a staff approaching. The next sound that he heard was that same staff crashing into the doorway of the pub as he stood back up. It was then that he saw who his attacker was—it was Lucrecia Crescent, the priestess who headed the new monastery for the western religion. Chaos took out the bag of money from his sleeve, and dropped it to the ground to the prostitutes—they immediately took it as 'take the money and get the hell out of here!' and so they grabbed the bag and ran away while Chaos dodged a thrust aimed at his head while he continuously dodged her swings before drawing his wakizashi at the last minute and blocking the staff with an underhanded grip as he got far enough away from her after pushing the staff away to continue analyzing her.

"You have killed many of my apprentices demon," she said, hate lacing her voice, "now prepare to die and be exorcised!" "Your apprentices were all arrogant fools who thought they could take me on," said Chaos, "if they died, it was their own foolishness that did them in…and if you have so many fools for apprentices, then perhaps you weren't a good teacher if you never taught them enough common sense to stay away from demons much stronger than them."

Chaos dodged another swing aimed at his head as he switched the grip on his short sword to the standard hammer grip and jumping over a swing aimed to trip him up as he reached into his pouch to pull out three kunai. He threw all three of the knives at his opponent, and then vanished in a puff of smoke just before Lucrecia could make a shot at his head. As soon as she had cleared the smoke away, she noted that her prey had disappeared. He had escaped again! Lucrecia wasted no time in continuing her chase…

* * *

September, 2010…

Yuffie and Kairi walked along the edge of the forest carrying an incense stick and a cha-siu bao. This was the last place that Yuffie had spent time with their mother, and so it was natural to come here. Yuffie stopped as she had seen something rather interesting. Vincent Valentine was setting up a shrine, and putting up pictures at the spot where she split the tree containing the body of the demon using a Lightning 3 spell. It was there that she noticed that he was kneeling down in prayer—who knew that that sexy devil was also rather pious…but who were in the pictures that he had set up?

She then watched as the three of them set up the picnic basket, and had a lunch together—the old lady must be an employee of his family. It was customary in the traditions of Wutainese ancestor worship to leave something for the dead, and to enjoy a picnic near the shrine…it's like getting the whole family together from this life and the next and treating them to lunch. Yuffie and Kairi walked out of the trees slowly. The three people in the picnic had turned their attentions to them upon hearing a twig snapping from nearby.

"Um, sorry about that," she said, with an embarrassed look on her face, "it's just that, this is the last happy place that I've been to with our mom, and I've come here since she passed on to pray for her." "It's fine," said Vincent, "the more the merrier they say. In fact, after you are done with your prayers, you may join us…you came just in time."

Yuffie simply looked on at the guy before walking towards the tree…although something was bugging her about seeing him—as if she had seen him before. She waved it off as nothing, and found the incense stand she had placed at the root of the tree long ago after her mother had died. After getting down for prayers, she caught a glimpse of who were in the photographs: there was a man with shoulder-length grizzled brownish-black hair and cinnamon-red eyes, probably from Corel…it was obvious that although Vincent had bits of this man in him, he clearly looked more similar to the Wutainese woman on the right photograph whose midnight-colored hair was soft and smooth like black silk—her eyes were the color of coffee, and that smile would make any man want to do anything for her to keep it on her face. The woman in the center however, looked like an older and much more mature version of Aeris roughly twenty years from now. Yuffie and Kairi simply walked on over to the picnic, and found an egg tart and some fried dumplings waiting on two dishes for them.

As she looked closer at Vincent—his back was turned away from the shrine, but Yuffie took a better picture of him in her mind while she explored his features. Yes, he looked too similar to those two people to not be related. "Are those your…"

She was cut off, but that was because Vincent stopped and dropped his head. "Yes."

"What happened?"

Vincent put down after finishing his last piece, and put the dish back into the basket. "I'd rather not talk about it," he said, "it was bad enough living through it." Yuffie figured that that was probably a touchy subject for him. She'll just have to be careful on that one—he'll let her in when he's ready…after all, they're still strangers aren't they? No reason to rush the relationship, not like they're getting married. She immediately changed the subject in her mind.

"Do you still remember them?"

"Yeah…I still remember them."

"What were they like?"

Vincent sighed as he searched through his memories. "My dad was a very ethical man—he believed that when doing business, unless it is necessary to work in the black, everything should be legit both morally and by the law of man. Even when I was six, I could tell that he managed to see quite a few great things in his life, but most of his time, aside from spending it with his family, was spent on his research…which was rather mind-blowing what he and other scientists have discovered. Anyway, he was a very good man, and he cared a lot about his family—the money he could always get in one way or another, but it was his family that came first."

"How about your mom?"

"She was one of the prettiest women I had ever laid eyes on, and that's because she was my mother. Everyone loved her partially due to her kindness and modesty, but the one who loved her most was my dad—he never would have cleaned up had he not met her as an overseas transfer student from Wutai to Corel in high school. According to my dad, from the day he first met her, he knew that she was 'Little Miss Right'; but after she went home to Wutai, he swore against the life of a hell raiser, and started working harder to better himself so that he could become a man that deserved her heart."

"What did your dad research on?"

"He was researching on mako and materia…how to make the latter in a more efficient and cleaner way, and as many uses as possible for both other than simply using it for power, and he found another use for it."

"What was it?"

"I don't know…he never showed me any blueprints or anything if that's what you mean. I just hope that those plans and notes don't fall into the wrong hands."

"You and me both."

"You worried about seeing Professor Hojo tomorrow?"

"How did you know I had…?"

"Aeris had you for his period. She told me that he was…not a pleasant man."

"Excuse me, 'not a pleasant man'? He's the worst! It's like he's the devil—I swear, he makes all of us terrified just to be in the same room with him! I just wonder how he even got to this point as an asshole!"

Vincent simply laughed at her outburst, but she was right. Professor Hojo taught chemistry, and he ruled his class with an iron fist…due to the fact that he had tenure, the school couldn't fire him if they tried, mostly due to unproven rumors of sexual harassment from the teachers and some students—even Aeris did not like the look on his face when he had her in his sights. His crimes of being ugly and creepy on the other hand, made the rumors about him look like a relatively light crime.

As the laughter died down, Vincent simply looked back at Yuffie. "He doesn't scare me…but he does push my buttons…about how he thinks my dad was crazy, and how he must have been the drunk driver…it seems if he can't control you with fear, then he can control you with anger. You don't know how close I was to strangling him the second he made mention of my father as he stood by my desk."

"You're telling me!"

It was later that the five of them started walking on home. They had some laughs along the way, mostly poking fun at Hojo's bony face, the way his glasses kept falling off his face, and even made fun of his cackling voice. "I swear," said Yuffie, calming herself after laughing, "that old man must not have gotten some! Although I did hear that he was married…to whom, I don't know."

Vincent continued to walk down the street with Yuffie and Kairi near him. Before long, something had triggered his senses as he watched someone walking the opposite direction of them. This figure clad in white had long silvery hair, and emerald eyes…he was somewhat like Vincent, only where Vincent was a bit more effeminate, this student was a bit manlier but no less sexier than the earlier. He knows this kid…even Chaos knows him…as a matter of fact, the entire school knows him…one of the students holding the position of #1 in the final exams last year, captain of the kendo club, and one of the overall lady-killers in the school along with the likes of Cloud Strife, Vincent Valentine, Reno McTravis, Tseng Hwang, Rufus Shin-Ra, and Zack Fair…Sephiroth Hojo.

The minute the two young men passed each other, the world seemed to freeze for a moment as if a sepia photograph was taken at that very moment. Vincent knew that there would be a meeting with that boy again very soon. That mental duel between them was left unfinished the second they continued to walk away. In that moment as he looked on at his rival, he thought, 'What in the world is he doing in this life? And who would have thought that life herself would be so cruel as to allow him back? Maybe the gods don't trust me as much anymore as I thought and so they granted him a reincarnation with his memories intact…how troublesome…he knows how I fought back when I was Chaos. But these years as Vincent have tempered me a little better, and so he'll see what new tricks I've picked up…and I've also learned from the last time we dueled. I just hope that the mess from last time will not repeat itself…although probably it would be a good idea to ask him myself what he's doing here…'

* * *

Monday…

Professor Shinichi Hojo was indeed an ugly and graying man…he was no better in his personality. Yuffie wasn't kidding when she said he was an asshole…whenever he spoke in that voice that was like nails running through a chalkboard, he was always demeaning the other students, insulting them, making them feel like nothing…as far as Vincent was concerned, he was just a pest…a dog working for Viktor Travinski Shin-Ra. As he took notes in class during his lecture, he noted that Hojo was walking very close to his desk—great, the monster of Monday was coming on up to him…just what he needed. "I'd like to say Mr. Valentine," began Hojo, "that your father was the lowest of the low in terms of students. How he managed to end up with such a brilliant and beautiful woman like your mother is beyond me!"

"Perhaps he truly saw the error of his ways, and worked hard towards earning her heart," began Vincent, "as a matter of fact, I'm not so certain what Professor Crescent saw in you…now how she can remain faithfully married to some ugly toad like you is what I'd like to know."

The sound of a hand slamming into the desk had briefly jumped around in the air killing any intent of laughter as Hojo looked into Vincent's eyes—when he noticed that his opponent didn't even flinch, he simply backed down in annoyance. Kids like his son were the type that he didn't like at all—they all seemed able to resist his torturous glances and his evil aura…as if the aura surrounding the Valentine boy was much more evil than his own. "You're lucky you're just a student now," he said, "but wait until you graduate…"

"You do realize that threatening a student could get you fired right?"

Vincent didn't miss the look of absolute hatred in Hojo's eyes. It was like he was seething mad, and didn't want to admit it. In any case, it made the evil man get his gaze away from him the minute the bell rang. School was out…it was a good thing too, as any minute longer with Hojo in front of him would have thrown him in jail before he could exact his revenge. As he walked on out to wait for Aeris and Yuffie, he noted that the latter was running away with tears in her eyes with Kairi following after her. She had found out—as soon as Aeris found her way to him, they walked on back; she must have known what he knew. "_You knew that Reno was cheating didn't you?_" she asked angrily, as she walked with him towards the house, "_Would she have believed me if I told her?_" answered Vincent, "_I know it's cruel not to tell her, but at the same time, she had her heart set for that scumbag and so telling her would have been even more cruel. In any case, it's not my place to tell her what the future would bring. Reno will learn his lesson after he understands the pain of breaking a girl's heart—which is the reason I am not intervening directly for Yuffie. I will however, comfort her as soon as we get home…I at least owe her that._"

The second they had finished speaking, they had made it to the house. "_Well now's your chance. I like Yuffie too much to see her crying like that. You'd better fix this, or I won't forgive you._" Vincent knew that Aeris was right…and he also knew that he should be doing this. As he walked on to the house next door, he found Yuffie sitting on the porch, crying into her knees. He sighed as he knew what happened…

Yuffie heard the sound of Northern dialect filling the air. She caught word of Reno in the conversation, and something about teaching him a lesson. Vincent was heading her way, and for once she didn't care…she didn't care because she caught Reno kissing up some girl that wasn't her. "You want to talk about it?" asked Vincent, as he took a seat next to her.

"Why talk when you obviously already know about it?"

Vincent sighed. "I understand that."

"Why are all men such assholes?"

"Yuffie, I'm sure that not every man you will meet will turn out to be an asshole—Reno can't have been your first boyfriend could he?"

"No, I actually dated several other guys as well…and they all turned out to be assholes!"

"Yuffie, if you need me to punish him for you, I will do just that. Anything you want, I will do it—just name it."

"You'd do this for a stranger?"

"You have been a friend to me the moment I met you…even if it has been for a good two weeks, it is still plenty of time for me to see what kind of a person you are. And even if I don't know you as well as a friend should, I still have plenty of time to get to know you better."

It was then that Yuffie's reflexes kicked in. She pounced on Vincent, and pulled him into a hug—earlier she had been crying silent tears, but as she cried into his school uniform, she let out all of her hurt and heartache in those sobs and moans. There was not much else he could do at this point…he simply returned her hug with his own, and rocked back and forth to comfort her.

It had been nearly four hours since Yuffie had cried herself to sleep, and she was peaceful for those last few hours. As Vincent looked into the stars, he began to contemplate on what he wouldn't give to heal her broken heart—too many assholes, too much pain, and all to a girl who put the sunshine into his life. He then heard the sound of the door opening from behind him. He turned around and found himself looking at Kairi, and her grandmother.

Mrs. Kisaragi walked towards him, and carried Yuffie in the bridal style. "You're a good man Valentine. I wish my granddaughter would date someone like you." With that, she walked into the open doorway with Kairi in tow. Vincent got up and started walking home. The second he opened the door, he noted a smiling Aeris walking up and hugging him. "_When that happens to me and you know, don't be afraid to tell me, okay?_" This would be the second time he gave solace to a young girl this night as he had run some rhythmic strokes through her hair.

"_I promise. But I doubt you'll ever need it as far as Zack is concerned. He is the man for you._" With that, the two of them went to the kitchen for supper…

* * *

The next day…

The cafeteria was bustling with kids running around finding a table while Yuffie sat around at her table with Vincent next to her. They had been talking about the newest album from the Black Mages when someone had burst into their conversation. "Yuffie, we need to talk," said the redhead, "There's nothing to talk about Reno," Yuffie spat the name that she once loved to say, "you kissed someone else. I really thought you were different from everyone else I used to date!"

Reno was panicking, and stammering. "But Yuffie, just hear me out!"

"No, YOU hear me out…all those times we went out, that night you first kissed me, were they all MEANINGLESS? How could you do that to me?" The anger in Yuffie's voice was very clear, especially when she emphasized on certain words.

"Just hear me out—I didn't kiss her on purpose."

"Oh really, did she say her name was YUFFIE?! Was it so hard to tell all girls apart that you thought it would be okay to kiss someone else?!"

"It was on accident! She pulled me into that kiss!"

"Really? It didn't look to me like you were FIGHTING hard enough to get her fucking lips off you! It was almost as if you wanted her to keep on kissing you! You know what Reno? You're not even worth it anymore! WE'RE OVER!"

It was not Reno's turn to be angry, as he pointed his finger at Yuffie. "Now you listen here you…" Before he could say anymore, screamed in pain as he saw a hand grab his finger and twist his arm about as he found himself looking into a pair of furious red eyes. "I must ask that you do not finish that sentence," said Vincent, calmly and coldly, betraying none of the politeness in his voice, "the repercussions of using such language in front of a lady could be disastrous. In any case, Yuffie has said her peace with you—the two of you are officially broken up. Now I'm not going to say anymore on what you should and should not do in front of a lady, but I would also like to ask that you refrain from touching a girl when she doesn't want to be touched. You gambled and you lost, and so it is fitting that you take the responsibility for your actions!"

Vincent released his grip on Reno's finger just as the bell had rung for the lunch hour to be over. Just as the two of them got back up to go to class, Vincent paused, and turned to face Reno who was still comforting his hurting finger. "By the way, I wouldn't recommend using the 'it was an accident' phrase at this point…especially not to them." Upon hearing that, Reno turned around fearfully, and saw more than twenty girls staring at him with hatred in their eyes…he'll get his due punishment soon enough, and with that, both Yuffie and Vincent walked on to class…

* * *

_**A/N: Sorry if it's short, but I am just dealing with school now...**_

_**Translations:**_

_**Cha-siu bao—a rather popular Cantonese dish: it is a steamed bun filled with barbecued pork bits. They mostly serve this during dim-sum, which is the Chinese equivalent of 'tea time'.**_

_**Ronin—literally read in kanji as "wave man", these are samurai who are unemployed…although it could also refer to students who have failed the entrance exams to get into college and are trying again.**_


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**Greetings to the fine folk that moderate our site.**

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